UN sending 45 satellite phones to Chile

The UN is also waiting to hear whether the government wants the world body to launch a financial appeal to help the country recover from the massive quake, as it did after the recent earthquake in Haiti, Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, told reporters at UN headquarters from her base in the Chilean capital, Santiago.

Chile's government is "well-organized to respond" to the crisis but has appealed to the UN and governments in the region and elsewhere for specific emergency needs, including temporary bridges, field hospitals, satellite phones, electric generators, damage assessment teams, water purification systems, field kitchens and dialysis centers, Barcena said.

She said the UN is sending 25 satellite phones from Geneva and 20 from New York which will arrive in Santiago Tuesday and be immediately given to Chile's Office of Emergencies and Disaster Management.

It is coordinating the response to Saturday's magnitude 8.8 earthquake, which killed more than 700 people, destroyed or badly damaged 1.5 million homes and affected almost 2 million people, she said, quoting official reports.

"The country is confronting an emergency, especially in the southern part of the country," Barcena said. "It's too early to determine the full scope of the destruction since there have been an endless stream of aftershocks."

The UN World Food Program is ready to send 30 tons of food from Ecuador but has not received word from the government to go ahead with the shipment, she said; Kazinform cites China Daily.

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